GENERAL INFORMATION
Lithuania is located at the western end of the East European Plain, on the shores of Baltic Sea. According to the French National Geographic Institute the center of Europe lies about 20 km North of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.
Capital: Vilnius (542 thousands inhabitants).
Area: 65.3 square kilometers.
Neighboring countries: Latvia, Poland, Belarus, and Russia.
The highest point - Juozapine hill is 294 meters.
There are 758 rivers and streams longer than 10 kilometers and 2830 lakes larger than 0.5 hectares.
The Curonian peninsula separating the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea is remarkable natural phenomenon. The 50 - kilometers long Lithuanian portion of the peninsula is as narrow as 400 meters in some sections.

GEOGRAPHY & CLIMATE
The climate of Lithuania is transitional between continental and maritime.
The average annual temperature is + 6.1 degrees Celsius, in January being – 4.9 and +17.0 degrees Celsius in July. The average precipitation is about 661 mm per year.

PEOPLE AND CULTURE
Total population: 3.5 million inhabitants. 83.5 % Lithuanians.
Women constitute 53.2 % of the population. The average life expectancy is 76.8 years for women and ten years less for men. The average size of the family is 3.2 people.
State language: Lithuanian. Lithuanian and Latvian belong to the Baltic group of Indo-European languages. Lithuanian and Latvian though had separated from a common stem some time in the seventh century. Lithuanian, among all of the living Indo - European languages has been the most successful in preserving its ancient system of phonetics and most of its morphological features. The alphabet consists of 32 letters. Lithuanian has 59 phonemes, 11 parts of speech, 2 genders, 7 cases, 2 aspects, 2 voices, 5 moods, 4 tenses, 3 persons. The order of words in the sentence is quite free, mainly subject to style.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Currency
Lithuanian LITAS, 1 euro = 3.4528 litas.
Coins: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 centas; 1, 2 and 5 litas.
Banknotes: 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 Lt.
Currency exchange - foreign currency can be exchanged at all border crossing points, hotels, banks. The exchange rate for main currencies does not fluctuate very much and might differ in 0.05 -0.01 centas.
Master card and visa are widely accepted in Lithuania. American Express and Dinners Club cards are accepted in larger establishments.
Time Zone
(GMT + 2) – Central European Time (CET), from April to October – summer time.
Metric System
European metric system is used. Temperature is measured in degrees Celsius.
Voltage, Plugs
The electrical supply is 220 volts AC, 50 Herz, European-style 2 pin plugs are used.